Russia and Ukraine trade heavy drone strikes amid escalating war, flights suspended in Russia, prisoners exchanged

Russia and Ukraine exchanged intense drone and missile attacks on Tuesday, disrupting air traffic and damaging civilian infrastructure amid a sharp escalation in the air war between the two countries.

The strikes came just a day after Ukraine reported Russia’s largest drone assault of the war, which Moscow said was in retaliation for Ukrainian incursions on Russian territory.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian forces launched over 315 drones—mostly Shaheds—and seven missiles overnight, targeting Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “one of the biggest” attacks in the three-year-old war.

“Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,” Zelenskyy said, urging “concrete action” from the West.

In Odesa, a maternity hospital and several residential buildings were damaged. Two people were killed and nine injured, regional authorities said. In Kyiv, one person was killed in the Obolonskyi district, and several others were wounded.

“These strikes once again show the true nature of what we are dealing with,” said Kyiv regional head Tymur Tkachenko. Witnesses reported hours of drone activity and explosions throughout the night.

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched a retaliatory drone barrage into Russian territory, prompting temporary flight suspensions at airports serving Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russian officials claimed to have downed 102 drones, nearly half over the Bryansk region. While no damage was reported, civil aviation authorities imposed widespread safety restrictions.

In a rare moment of cooperation, Russia and Ukraine also carried out a new prisoner exchange on Tuesday, under an agreement reached during peace talks in Istanbul last week.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces recovered a second group of military personnel from Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukraine confirmed the exchange, with President Zelenskyy stating it involved troops from the Armed Forces, National Guard, Border Guard, and Special Transport Service.

“All of them require immediate medical attention,” Zelenskyy said, calling the swap “an important humanitarian act.” Further exchanges are planned, including the release of all wounded troops and soldiers under 25, and the return of 6,000 fallen soldiers on each side.

Both countries deny targeting civilians. However, the war, now in its third year, has claimed thousands of civilian lives—most of them Ukrainian.